Lamenting the latest massacre in Charleston

I have cried until the tears no longer come;
    my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
    as I see the desperate plight of my people.(Lam 2:11)

This should be a time to weep with those who are weeping in Charleston, a time to sit with those whose hearts are broken.  I thought I had learned how healing can come to a community as the community gathers to grieve together.  This was our experience   when our family lived in a little village hidden deep in the bush of sub-saharan Africa.

You could always tell when someone from the village had died because all of the neighbors would gather with the family who had lost a loved one to sit and grieve with them. People didn't stop by for a few minutes to pay their respects and drop off a plate of potato salad like we did in the town where I grew up.  

In our little village in Nigeria neighbors would sit with the grieving family for days, often a week or more. Few words were spoken. This was a time to mourn with those who were mourning, to weep with those who were weeping, and sit with those who had "cried until the tears nolonger came."

I briefly thought about driving up to Charleston to sit and weep with those who are grieving the loss of Pastor Clementa C. Pinckney and eight others from the Emmanuel AME Church.  But I have to be honest.  I am too angry to sit and grieve.  

I confess, I am angry at Dylann Roof, the alleged shooter.  But my anger runs much deeper than what could be provoked by the godless violence of one disturbed shooter.  I am angry at those who are using the tragedy in Charleston to start a stampede to the local gun store to buy more ammo or a bigger gun. And I am angry and agonizing over all the Christians who claim to know and love Jesus, but will choose to carry a gun rather than trusting in Christ alone as Savior and Lord.

Less than 24 hours after Dylann Roof allegedly shot and killed 9 people who were gathered for Bible study and prayer, Charles L. Cotton, a board member of the NRA blamed the pastor of Emmanuel AME church for the deaths.  He said, "[Rev Pinckney] voted against concealed-carry.  Eight of his church members who might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead.  Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue."

I would be less angry with Mr Cotton for using the misery of those families in South Carolina to try to sell more guns if he was just honest about it. Jesus talked more about greed than almost any other kind of sin.  And Jesus will surely forgive Mr Cotton for the sin of greed if he will only confess his sin and then go and sin no more. Unfortunately, there are many Christians in America who would rather wave the flag than bear the cross. How easily they allow themselves to be seduced by those who pay lip service to the second amendment while getting rich on the soaring profits a 300 billion dollar firearms industry. 

To support the gun industry in the name of greed is sinful but forgivable.  To support the gun industry in the name of Jesus is inexcusable.  

Years ago I knew a man who operated a tow service along Interstate 81 in Virginia.  One day he responded to a call by a woman whose Buick broke down while driving from Florida to New York.  When he pulled up to her car and saw that she was well into her 80's and all alone he said, "Ma'am, you shouldn't be out here on the highway all by yourself."  She said, "Oh, I just trust in my Jesus."  He was taken by her faithfulness until he looked into the car and saw the long, steel blue barrel of a Colt 45 revolver sitting next to the drivers seat. He chuckled to himself, "So... this is her Jesus!"  

Here are a couple of things to remember before you are tempted to believe that a Colt 45 or any other revolver can actually save you:

1. The Battle belongs to the Lord and cannot be fought and will never be won with the weapons of the world:

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul writes, "Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

2. Jesus made it pretty clear that the surest way to lose your life is by trying to save your life:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26)

Here is a final word of encouragement, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ," (Philippians 3:20).